Life on the ground key to new high-rise area

COMMENTARY

Published 4:00 am, Friday, May 2, 2008

Photo: Courtesy, San Francisco Planning Dept

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If approved, the new zoning proposed for San Francisco's South of Market would allow a cluster of skyscrapers markedly taller than what now exists, or is allowed under current zoning. This perspective from Alamo Square Ñ shows potential height, not actual designs. Rincon Hill towers approved but not yet built. On the left are the towers possible under newly proposed Transbay area height limits. On the right are the approved Rincon Hill towers approved that are not yet built.
Photo Courtesy of the San Francisco Planning Department less

If approved, the new zoning proposed for San Francisco's South of Market would allow a cluster of skyscrapers markedly taller than what now exists, or is allowed under current zoning. This perspective from ... more

Photo: Courtesy, San Francisco Planning Dept

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Area being studied for rezoning. Chronicle Graphic

Area being studied for rezoning. Chronicle Graphic

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###Live Caption:If approved, the new zoning proposed for San Francisco's South of Market would allow a cluster of skyscrapers markedly taller than what now exists, or is allowed under current zoning. This perspective from Alamo Square Ñ shows potential height, not actual designs. Rincon Hill towers approved but not yet built. On the left are the towers possible under newly proposed Transbay area height limits. On the right are the approved Rincon Hill towers approved that are not yet built.
Photo Courtesy of the San Francisco Planning Department###Caption History:If approved, the new zoning proposed for San Francisco's South of Market would allow a cluster of skyscrapers markedly taller than what now exists, or is allowed under current zoning. This perspective from Alamo Square � shows potential height, not actual designs. Rincon Hill towers approved but not yet built. On the left are the towers possible under newly proposed Transbay area height limits. On the right are the approved Rincon Hill towers approved that are not yet built.
Photo Courtesy of the San Francisco Planning Department###Notes:###Special Instructions:MANDATORY CREDIT FOR PHOTOG AND SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE/NO SALES-MAGS OUT less

###Live Caption:If approved, the new zoning proposed for San Francisco's South of Market would allow a cluster of skyscrapers markedly taller than what now exists, or is allowed under current zoning. This ... more

Photo: San Francisco Planning Departmen

Life on the ground key to new high-rise area

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If San Francisco planners have their way, a whole new neighborhood will grow up - literally - south of the traditional Financial District.

And here's the punch line: It could feel a lot like midtown Manhattan.

Swarms of pedestrians would navigate corporate plazas at the foot of glassy peaks. The wide grid of streets would be filled with cars much of the day, but a fair number of better-paid workers would be within walking distance of their high-rise homes.

This isn't the apocalyptic "Manhattanization" that local critics railed against back in the 1970s, when they warned that tall buildings would usher in blight and decay. This type of neighborhood can exude a dynamic urbanity that pulls housing close to office space and transit, all threaded by attractive strands of open space.

But unless care is taken on the ground, it also could be a dark, congested realm - no matter how the new buildings look from afar.

Given all the talk about a new skyline in recent years, there was a sense of anticlimax to what was unveiled Wednesday night by the San Francisco Planning Department.

Yes, the proposed zoning would allow seven towers to exceed the current 550-foot height limit. They would emerge from the existing clutter to form a sort of allegorical mound topped by a 1,000-foot tower at the Transbay Terminal site at First and Fremont streets.

Under this scenario, the summit would be 150 feet taller than the Transamerica Pyramid, San Francisco's chart-topper since 1972. The flanking towers would be roughly as tall as the skyline's current runner-up, the 779-foot Bank of America building.

The idea also is to space things out, with at least 200 feet of open air between the towers once they reach the heavens.

"We think it's quite graceful," project manager Joshua Switzky said as he toggled through images of phantasmic silhouettes from such perspectives as Twin Peaks and Treasure Island. "We want to maintain and accentuate the downtown form, with the apex at the Transit Center."

As far as skyline aesthetics go, loosening the reins makes sense. Since the new towers would top off today's thicket of 400- to 600-foot high-rises, they wouldn't disrupt views that before were wide-open. They're also proportioned to build on what exists, rather than stick out like steroid thumbs.

At some point, the computer images morph into real structures of steel and concrete and glass, filled by thousands of workers and residents.

Here's where things get tricky.

Besides the obvious accents on the skyline, the proposed rezoning raises heights more "modestly" in other locations. There's space for a 400-foot tower connected to the Palace Hotel on New Montgomery Street, for instance, and a 450-foot shaft on Howard Street next to where a 700-foot tower is allowed. On Tehama Street - an alleyway - zoning would allow a 350-foot tower.

None of them is a skyline-popper. None of them would cast shadows on distant parks. At some point, though, the cumulative effect at street level could be overwhelming. Instead of cool towers providing contemporary accents, we'd have oversaturation.

Canyons of sleek glass.

The danger is most pronounced at the corner of Fremont and Mission streets.

Right now, there's a 600-foot office tower from 1985 on the northwest corner and, kitty-corner to it, a 650-foot residential tower that opens next year. On the northeast, the proposed height is 700 feet. And southwest? That's the Transbay site, where planners want their 1,000 foot centerpiece.

No matter how spread out the peaks might be, we would suffocate down low.

As the debate over the district moves forward during the next 18 months (or more) before there's a vote at the Board of Supervisors, it's essential that a balance be struck on the ground as well as in the air.

To their credit, planners are emphasizing the need for wider sidewalks in several locations and midblock crosswalks in others to create an urbane realm.

During the next few months, they also need to spell out how buildings on larger sites connect with the street. Instead of sheer cliff after sheer cliff, for instance, some high-rises could be tucked back on podiums of just three or four stories. Their bases would relate to the existing terrain of lower, older buildings, allowing breathing room at ground level while their towers soar toward the sky.

The neighborhood also needs strong protections for the masonry buildings that retain a flavor of its blue-collar past. Some are obvious landmarks. Others are disposable. With the ones in-between, it's best to err on the side of preservation.

Anyone who has visited midtown Manhattan in recent years knows how exhilarating it can be - a fast-paced world of gleaming stabs at the sky and jam-packed pocket parks, frenetic moments and inlets of calm. They also know the spots where it's all too much, a suffocating press of construction where there's little hint of a world beyond.

San Francisco shouldn't be afraid to grow, and grow up. There's also no need to change it into something else.

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